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10.30.2015

On Saturday evening, October 24, the Maronite Servants
attended the Halloween Party at St. Anthony of the Desert, Fall River.The night started off with “Trunk-or-Treat” packed
with candy, chips, which the children and sisters received with great
enthusiasm. The night continued with decorating pumpkins; crafts; and popping
Caspar balloons!

On Vocations - St.
Mary’s in Dartmouth

On Sunday evening, October 18, Sr. Therese Maria gave a
presentation to the teens in the confirmation program of St. Mary’s Roman
Catholic Church in South Dartmouth. Sr. Therese Maria first addressed some
myths and facts about what religious life actually entails, and then gave the
teens a brief introduction on who we are as Maronite Servants of Christ the
Light.

Sr. Therese Maria explained to the teens that each one of us
has a vocation, that is, a calling from God and a special purpose in our lives,
and she considered some of those vocations in detail. Many are called by God to
come together and form holy marriages; some are called to lead a chaste single
life of service; while others may have a vocation to priesthood or religious life.

Sr. Therese Maria explained, in general, what it means to be
a consecrated religious, and highlighted the three vows religious take on their
profession day, that is, obedience, chastity and poverty. The evening finished
with Q&A, with the teens raising some excellent questions such as, “Are
there reasons that a person cannot be a religious?”; “What is the process for
becoming a religious?”

10.23.2015

The Maronite Servants have recently returned from a visit to France,
during which we took our weeklong annual retreat in Lisieux (from September 25
to October 1), and a pilgrimage visiting the holy sites in Paris (October 2 –
October 8).

Our pilgrimage in Paris began with a
memorable visit to France’s most celebrated Cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris. The
French Gothic architecture and stunning stained glass windows of the Cathedral
were marvelous to behold. Our Lady had a special gift awaiting the Maronite
Servants upon their arrival. It so happened that the day of our visit was the
first Friday of the month and the relics of Our Lord’s Crown of Thorns are
presented for veneration. The Crown
is a circle of canes bundled together and
held by gold threads. The thorns were divided up over the centuries by the
Byzantine emperors and the Kings of France. There are seventy, all of the same
type, which have been confirmed as the original thorns. The Maronite Servants
had the great privilege of venerating the Crown (with great eagerness and
enthusiasm), which was displayed by the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre after the
celebration of a beautiful Divine Liturgy. What an awesome start to our
pilgrimage!

The following day we found ourselves in Rue-de-Bac; home of the Chapel
of the Miraculous Medal and the tombs of St. Catherine Laboure and St. Louise
de Marillac. The Chapel was
built in 1815 and was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1830, it was
privileged with the extraordinary events of the apparitions of the Blessed
Virgin to St. Catherine Labouré that marked it forever. Between July and
December 1830, Sr. Catherine, a young novice at the time of the Daughters of
Charity, received the extraordinary favor of conversing with the Virgin Mary on
3 occasions. In this Chapel, the Virgin Mary came in person to reveal her
identity through a little object, a medal, which reads, O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. On
December 8, 1854, Pope Pius
IX proclaimed the Dogma of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception.
What great joy we experienced in not only praying beside the bodies of these
most holy women, but celebrating Divine Liturgy in this hallowed Chapel, which
has preserved the chair the Blessed Virgin sat in during her apparitions!

A couple of streets down from the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal was the
Chapel and Shrine of St. Vincent de Paul, which holds the body of this great
saint. The first thing we noticed upon entering the Chapel was the glass
reliquary containing his body high above the main altar. After climbing the
stairs behind the altar, we arrived to venerate his relics. His face looked so
serene and peaceful, as if he was simply sleeping. St. Vincent de Paul is known
all around the world for his charitable works and is hailed as the “Champion of
the Poor”.

It was a great joy for us to celebrate Sunday’s Divine Liturgy and the
Feast of the Most Holy Rosary (October 4) in our Maronite Cathedral in Paris,
Notre Dame du Liban (Our Lady of Lebanon). We were blessed to meet the Rector
of the Cathedral, Fr. Fadi Elmir, and spend time greeting our devoted Maronite
parishioners. We are indebted to Fr. Fadi for also taking us to meet His
Excellency, Bishop Maroun Nasser Gemayel, who is the first Maronite Bishop of
the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon in Paris. Our visit with Sayedna Gemayel was
very fruitful, as he expressed his affirmation and support of our charism and
mission among our Maronites worldwide.

Our next stop on our Pilgrimage in Paris was Montmartre, which is Paris’
highest hill that overlooks the entire city. Montmartre is primarily
known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur (the Sacred Heart of
Jesus) on its summit. The Basilica is absolutely breath-taking, not only for
its location, but also for its art depicting Jesus’ exposed heart aflame with
love for us as He appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673. The Crypt of
the Basilica boasts a beautiful side Chapel dedicated entirely to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus. It was in this very side Chapel in 1887 of the then unfinished
Basilica that St. Therese consecrated herself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
during her pilgrimage. The Maronite Servants were privileged to pray in the
same spot that St. Therese prayed in all those years ago, and celebrated Divine
Liturgy in this breath-taking Basilica.

We also prayed in the
other, older, church on the hill, Saint Pierre de Montmartre, which claims to
be the location at which the Jesuit order of priests was founded, and also a
Church St. Therese visited on her pilgrimage in Paris. I might just add that
this was our only rainy day throughout our whole stay in France; apart from
that, the Lord blessed us with very fine weather.

We visited and prayed at
the Basilica of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
(Our Lady of Victories). This Church is also famous in the life of St. Therese.
St. Thérèse felt the motherly love of Our Lady throughout her
life. On the Feast of Pentecost 1883, when she was ten years old and
suffering from a mysterious and debilitating illness, the statue of the Blessed
Virgin smiled at her in all loveliness, and Therese recovered. Later, Thérèse
began to doubt whether the Virgin really had smiled at her. That scruple
departed in November 1887, in the church of Our Lady of Victories. She
recalled:

“I realized that she [Mary] watched over me,
that I was her child, and so I could
not give her any name but Maman (“Mommy”),
because that seemed so much more tender than ‘Mother.’ ”

It was also in the
Church of Our Lady of Victories that Therese implored the help of the Blessed
Virgin in realizing her vocation. The Church now has two beautiful side Chapels,
one dedicated to Therese and the other dedicated to her recently canonized
parents, Louis and Zelie Martin. We had the special honor of not only
celebrating Divine Liturgy at Our Lady of Victories but also of offering Midday
prayer with the Benedictine nuns who were in attendance that day. They chanted
the Divine Office so beautifully and harmoniously that an overwhelming sense of
peace came over us.

We visited and prayed in
many other Churches in Paris, apart from the ones mentioned above, but our
visits would simply be too long to recount in detail. These beautiful churches
included St. Sulpice, St. Merri, St. Leu-St.Giles, St. Germain, St. Eustace, St.
Pierre and Notre Dame de La Salette. One of my most memorable visits was to the
Church of St. Leu-St.Giles in rue St. Denis. This Church currently holds a rare
relic of St. Helen, mother of St. Constantine, in a glass reliquary at the base
of the Crucifix, which we were able to venerate behind the altar. It is also
the capitular church of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, who continue to
assemble there.

You and your intentions
and loved ones were remembered in prayer at all these holy and venerable sites.

10.16.2015

The Maronite Servants have recently
returned from a visit to France, during which we took our weeklong annual
retreat in Lisieux (from September 25 to October 1).

During
this Year of Consecrated Life, a generous priest benefactor (wishing to remain
anonymous) sponsored us for a retreat in Lisieux, meditating on the
spirituality of Saint Therese of the Infant Jesus. Lisieux is the site where
Saint Therese lived as a Carmelite nun in the late 19th Century and
died at the age of 24 from tuberculosis.

St.
Therese is now known all over the world as the “Little Flower” who showed us
her “little way of spiritual childhood” to Jesus. She believed in doing small
things and offering small sacrifices with great love. She took her assignments in the convent of Lisieux as
ways of manifesting her love for God and for others. St. Therese knew from her
life that God is merciful love, and her confidence in His love knew no limits.
Her “little way” puts holiness of life within the reach of ordinary people, and
helps us to live with confidence in God’s love for us.

It was a
great privilege over the week of our retreat to pray in the great Basilica
dedicated to St. Therese that was built on the highest hill overlooking the
city of Lisieux. Construction of the
Basilica started in 1929 and finished in 1954, and can hold up to 4,000
worshippers. The Basilica features the most beautiful mosaics, and not only
holds relics of St. Therese, but also the mortal remains of Louis and Zelie Martin,
St. Therese’s parents, who will be canonized as saints in the Vatican on
October 18. We celebrated a beautiful Divine Liturgy in the Basilica on Sunday,
September 27, in honor of St. Therese’s feast day. It was so great to see the
Basilica filled with devoted pilgrims from every nation and race.

The Basilica is located close by the Carmelite Monastery, where St.
Therese spent 9 years as a nun. The Carmelite Monastery is currently the home
of the mortal remains of St. Therese, along with that of her three other
sisters who were also Carmelite nuns; Pauline, Marie and Celine. On the evening
of Saturday, September 26, we participated in a beautiful procession during
which the relics of St. Therese were moved from the Carmel Monastery to the
Basilica in honor of her feast. We experienced such a strong sense of “church”
that evening.

Part of the Carmelite Monastery has been transformed into a museum,
showcasing the belongings and writings of St. Therese, including the holy habit
she once wore. We spent a number of days looking and praying over these
belongings, and reading about the many favors and miracles St. Therese
performed for people all over the world. We had the great privilege of praying
Divine Liturgy in the small Carmel Chapel on several days, and listening to the
sisters offer Morning Prayer in French. The Lisieux Carmelite Monastery is
still the home of many nuns.

Our next stop in the journey and life of St. Therese was Les Buissonnets. Louis Martin and his
five daughters moved into “Les Buissonnets” in Lisieux in 1877 after the death
of his wife, Zelie. Therese, who was the youngest of the five Martin daughters,
was about 4 years old at the time, and she would remain at “Les Buissonnets”
until the age of 15 when she would leave for the Carmelite Monastery. In the
backyard of “Les Buissonnets” there was a very moving monument that depicted a
re-enactment of when Therese sat down with her father to ask his blessing to
become a Carmelite nun. They shared a very special father-daughter bond. She was
his “little queen” and he was her “king”.

It was also at “Les Buissonnets” that St. Therese says that she
received the greatest grace of her life on Christmas Day in 1886; the grace of
conversion. On that day, the then fourteen-year-old Therese hurried home from
Midnight Mass at Saint Peter's Cathedral. In France, young children left their
shoes by the fireplace at Christmas, and their parents would fill them with
gifts. By fourteen, most children outgrew this custom. But Therese, being the
youngest and most spoiled, continued to have presents in her shoes.

As she and her sister, Céline climbed the stairs to take off their
hats, their father's voice rose up from the parlor below. Standing over the
shoes, he sighed, "Thank goodness that's the last time we shall have this
kind of thing!" Thérèse froze, and her sister looked at her helplessly.
Céline knew that in a few minutes Thérèse would be in tears over what her
father had said.

But the tantrum never came. Something incredible had happened to
Thérèse. Jesus had come into her heart and done what she could not do herself.
He had made her more sensitive to her father's feelings rather than her own.
She swallowed her tears, walked slowly down the stairs, and exclaimed over the
gifts in the shoes, as if she had never heard a word her father said.

During our visit to Les
Buissonnets, we prayed over the very fireplace that this event took place
and walked up the steps that Therese herself came down on that Christmas
morning having been changed by Jesus forever.

On our last day of retreat, which was the actual feast day of St.
Therese on October 1st, we visited Alencon, the birthplace of St.
Therese, and first home of Louis and Zelie Martin. Alencon is about a one hour
drive from Lisieux. St. Therese spent the first 4 years of her life in Alencon
before moving to Les Buissonnets. The home has been transformed into a Museum,
and boasts a very beautiful chapel in which we celebrated Divine Liturgy that
morning. It was absolutely amazing to see how everything has been preserved
including St. Therese’s toys; her father’s fishing poles, and her mother’s lace
work. It was here in Alencon that St. Therese gave the Maronite Servants a big
gift. The sisters at the museum granted us permission to pray in the very room
in which St. Therese was born, and in which her mother died. This room is
enclosed in glass and access is not granted to all pilgrims; this was very
special to us. I was personally very moved as venerated St. Therese’s cradle
and the bed in which her mother died.

Thanks be to God for such a wonderful retreat! Walking in the footsteps
of St. Therese, we felt she was walking with us. We took your intentions and
petitions with us at every holy site and prayed for them before every relic.
May St. Therese bless you all abundantly and shower down upon you bouquet of
roses! Next week’s blog will feature highlights from our pilgrimage in Paris
(October 2 – October 8).

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